Drying apparatus.



H. S. HOPKINS. DRYING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED 11110.16, 1911.

Patented Sept. 3, ,1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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ATTORNEY H. S. HOPKINS. DRYING APPARATUS. APPLIUATION FILED DBO. 1e, 1911.

Patented Sept 'hhs ATTORNEY 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

H. S. HOPKINS. DBYING APPARATUS. APFLIoATIoN FILED Imc. 16, 1911.

Patented Sept. 3, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

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HENBY'S. -H0?KINS, 0E BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

DRYING APPARATUS.

vSpecification of Letters Patent'.

pplication filed Decemberil, 19.11. Serial No.` 666,126.

Ta all it may concern.' ,Y

f Beit known that I, HENRY S- Hornms, a 4citizen of .the United States, residing at Brookl 1n, in the countyof Kings, 'State of New useful Improvements in Drying Apparatus,

Vof vwhich the following `is a .specication This invention relates to apparatus for drying in a continuous sheet or. web, `material, such as-paper or cloth which hasbeen subjectedto some surface iinishing or preparatory operation, lsuch as coloring, top sizing, gumming, printing, etc.

One object of this invention is to provide an apparat-us of the .character above de` scribed, in which the material as it is fed ,through the drier is caused to lie snugly upon. theconveyor, and prevented .trom curling alon the edges while it-dries.

Another o ject of this invent-ion is to provide a ldrier of the character described, in which a maximum length of material may be held inside'the drier at any given time.

Further objects will appearI from the detailedrdescription, and will be, particularly pointed out .in the' claims.

In the accompanying drawing which i1lus-' i trates Athis invention; Eigure 1 is an elevamy invent-ion.

' fabric or other material through the drier.' 55

tion of one embodiment of my invention; Eig. 2 isfa section taken alongv line 2-'-2 ofv Fig. l, looking in `the vdirection lor" the arrows; Fig. 3 is ase'ction onan enlarged scale, taken along 1ine33 of Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a fragmental detail illustrating the dispbsition of the links, screen, and material;

Fig. 5 is an elevation partly in section, and- Fig. S'is a. plan of another embodiment .of zig. 7 isan elevation, and aFig. -8 is a plan partly 'in section of `still another embodiment of my invention. Fig; 9 illustrates a modication.

`Referring to. Figs` 1 to .4, the numeral 1 .indicatesgenerally a coating machine from which the coated material 2 is fed through the drier. The latter consists of the casing 3 divided into a plurality of compartments 4, 5, and 6. I have. shown only three of these compartments. by way of lllustration, but it may 'be understood that-any desired number of compartments may be used. In the first and last of these compartments are mounted drums 9 and -10 actuating an endless conveyerV 11, which carries the paper,

A blast of hot dry air is` supplied to the ork, have invented certain new and follow the curvature of t gathers up moisture from the material, and

will be more or less saturated when it is linally exhausted A into the atmosphere. Should it be desired to introduce a dry blast into any of the intermediate compartments, I provide tlues V17 and 18, leading from flue 12, and connecting respectively with lues.

14 and l1.6. Any desired -form of damper or cont-rol may be used in connection with fiu'es 17 and 18 to regulate the supply of dry air. p I

The apparatus described so far is substantially the `same as disclosed in my co-pending application S. N. 643,469.

I will now proceed to describe the improvements to which the presentapplication is more particularly directed.

Mounted upon the endless conveyer 11 is -a screen 19. This screen instead of lying at upon theconveyer is disposed thereon, in a wavy outline as clearly shown in Fig.

reasonY of its own weight, and also on account of the 'air blast the paper will he `screen as it passes through the drier. This curving of Patented. sept. a, 1912.

the paper will prevent its curling along the edges, as will be readily understood by those skilled in the art. The screen may be held 1n such corrugated or wavy out-line by means of sticks or rods 20, disposed in links 21 of rtheendless conveyer. For the reception of those rods 20, the links may be formed with raised middle portions 22 and curved or sloping edges 23. These curved edges 23 may also be. made use of in actuating swinglng gates 24.' These gates are pivoted yin t-he walls separating the compartments and serve to prevent the communication of t-he air between the compartments whilethe troughs of the waves pass thelopenings between the compartments. Rollers 25 are yprovided onA pintles at the lower corners of eachgate and coperating with the curved surface ot the links. It may be understood no exhaust lues disposed on the same side of thematerial as the lines conveying the' blast. In these Figs. 5 and 6, 30 indicates a flue conveying the hot dry air and having outlet branches 31, 32, 33, 34, etc. Exhaust flue 35 may be connected to an exhaustrfan or any other means for exhausting the air, and may be provided with branches 36, 37, 38,

39, etc. These exhaust ilues extend into the casing above the paper and serve to exhaust the air 4which has'become saturated with moisture-after passing over the surface of the material. Both the inlet and exhaust -ues may be formed'with'diverging mouths 40 and 41', so as to extend across the entire width of the paper.

In the embodiment of my invention illustrated in Figs. 7 and 8, I show a form in which my improved screen is'used in connection with a drier in which the blast of air is conveyed through nozzles, directing the blast with acertain amount of velocity and impact against the material.

indicates a flue conveying the hot dry blast,

and 51 indicates the nozzles extending from Hue 50 into the interior of the casing. These nozzles may be formed with' diverging mouths 52, so las to extend across the en- Y' tire width of the material. 53 indicates an exhaust iiue having branches 54 extending mto the casing at any desired oint and serving to carry away the air a er it hasV become saturated with the moisture from the material. Fig. 9 illustrates a modification ofthe vcontour of screen 19, in which the wavy outline is sharper and steeper than in the other modifications of my invention. Such outline or contour serves to further increase the length of material -which may be held at one time in any given length of the drier.

It will be clear that, by my construction of screen, I prevent the curling ofthe edges of the material which is being dried, and

thus eliminate a great source of waste which has hitherto existed when pa er or like material is being dried. It will also be clear that by my construction the curling of material is avoided independently of any blast pressure or any suction used to keep the material down snugly upon the conveyer. By reason also of the wavy outline of the conveyer, I am able to keep a greater length of material within a given :length of drier, and, therefore, increase the length of time in which the material as a whole 1s kept within the drier. In this wa I can reduce the length of the "drier wit out sacricingvany of its drying eciency. v

I have' illustrated various specific embodiments of my invention but do .not wish,

however, to be limited thereby, for various embodiments of this rinvention may be made without departing from the spirit and scope' of the invention as defined in the claims.

l. In drying apparatus, a casing, a conveyer passing through the casing and adapted to convey the material to be dried, and a screen mounted upon the conveyer, said screen havinga wavy or vcorrugated outline in the direction of its length.

2. In apparatus for drying sheets Vand fabrics, a conveyer'ada ted to carry the material to be dried, sai conveyer having a wavy outline in the direction of its length and adapted to cause the material to lie thereon in a series of waves, while said material is being'dried.

3. In drying apparatus for drying sheets and fabrics, a conveyer adapted to carry the material to be dried, said conveyer hav'- ing a wavy outline in the direction of its length, and adapted to cause the material to lie thereon in a series of waves, and means for causing a blast of air to pass over the surface of the material to dry the same.

4. In drying apparatus, a casing divided into a plurality of compartments, la conveyer passing throughV the compartments andadapted to carry the material to be dried, and means for adjusting to the contour of the conveyer the openings in the walls of the compartments as the conveyer passes through them. A

5. In drying apparatus, a casing divided into a plurallty of compartments, a conveyer passing through the compartments and adapted to carry the material to be dried, and hinged gates provided lfor the walls of the compartments through which the conveyer passes, and adapted to automatically adjust to the contour of the conveyer the opening formed in said 'wallS 6. In drying apparatus, a casing divided into a plurality of compartments, a conveyer passing through the compartments,

and adapted to carry the material to be dried the walls separating the compartments being provided with slots, said conveyer having ments being provided with slots, said conveyer having a wavy outline in the direction of its(length, adjustable means for adjusting to the contour of the conveyer the slots in the Walls between the compartments, means movable with the conveyer for automatically operating said adjustable means.

8. In drymgapparatus, a casing divided into a plurality of compartments, a conveyer passing through the compartments and adapted to carry the material to be dried.y the Walls separating the compartments being provided with slots, said conveyer having a wavy outline in the direction of its length swinging gates adapted to adjust to the contour of the conveyer the l slots in said walls, and a series of cams carried by conveyer and adapted to operate said swinging gates.

` 9. In a drying apparatus, an endless conveyer comprising a linked chain, the links of the chain having raised portions,

.rods passing through said raised portions,

adjacent to their upper edge, and a screen passing overthe rods and bent into the form of a wavy outline in the direction of its length.

l0. 1n a drying apparatus, acasing dij vided into a plurality of compartments, a conveyer passing through the compartments and adapted to carry the material tobe dried, the walls separating the Acompartments beingprovided with slots, said conveyer comprising a linked chain, the links of the chain having raised portions, a screen on the conveyer and fashioned into a wavy outline in the direction of itsplength, gates on the walls separating the compartments and adapted to adjust the slots to the contour`of the conveyer, said raised portions of the links serving to automatically operate said gates.

HENRY S. HOPKINS. vWitnesses:

JOHN Gr. PHEIL, LEON MrN'rz. 

